Mebane’s city council will consider two incentives agreements Monday night – a large one for an expansion of Morinaga’s facility in the western Orange County portion of Mebane, just across the Alamance County line, and a much smaller “building reuse” grant for long-time Swedish company, Sandvik, on the Alamance County side of the county line.
Morinaga announced a planned $136 million expansion of its current Mebane plant, located off I-85/40, in July.
The expected price tag for the expansion is about four times the original $34 million investment in the plant, announced in 2013; the plant opened in 2015. The expected price tag for the expansion is about four times the original $34 million investment in the plant, announced in 2013; the plant opened in 2015.
The original facility was almost 100,000 square feet, and the expansion is expected to double that size, to about 200,000 square feet. The company is located on a 21-acre site beside I-85/40.
The exact amount of proposed incentives, including waived fees by the city, is estimated to be about $1.1 million.
In 2013, Mebane awarded $510,000 for the initial $34 million investment.
The company’s expansion was announced to provide 204 new jobs, with estimated average salaries of $48,912 annually or average hourly pay of $23.52, by 2030, company officials said last month.
Sandvik
The much-smaller project is for the Sandvik Coromant Corporation, that is also near I-85/40 but on the Alamance County side of Mebane.
The company, which came to Mebane in 1980 and is one of the oldest industrial tenants in the city, engineers and manufactures high-tech metal cutting tools.
The company will ask the city of Mebane to provide matching local funds that would supplement a state grant the company is seeking to upgrade its facility in Mebane. Sandvik has had a significant portion of its facility, apparently as much as 9,300 square feet, about 10 percent, which has been largely unused except for storage.
Plans are now to apply for a state grant for “building reuse,” an incentives program of usually smaller proportions but which also entail a “match” of sorts from a municipal government.
The city will be asked to provide $7,250 for its match of the state building reuse grant.
The company is applying for $145,000 from the state.
Mebane’s city council is scheduled to consider the request at its upcoming meeting Monday night.
The state-funded building reuse grant program is administered by the North Carolina Department of Commerce.
The grants can be used for: renovation of vacant buildings; renovations or expansions of buildings occupied by an existing company that hopes to expand in a current location; and healthcare-related expansions, renovations, or construction.
To be eligible, companies seeking to renovate or expand an existing building must have operated in the state for at least 12 months prior to applying for a building reuse grant; meet a state “weekly wage standard”; and satisfy various other criteria, according to the state commerce department.
Mebane’s city council isn’t the only municipal governing board to consider a matching grant such as this in recent months.
Graham’s city council agreed this May to provide a $5,065 grant to Cintas Corporation, a commercial uniform and safety equipment distributor, to assist that company with winning a $100,000 state grant that would be used to fund a $1.3 million upgrade of its existing facility along Woody Drive in Graham.
A representative for Sandvik Coromant had not responded to an inquiry from The Alamance News by press time.
